


Drunk men tell no tales

by Sylencia



Series: The way to forgiveness [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drunkenness, Kinda, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Roommates, no beta we die like men, you'll see when you read!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 08:12:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13314099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylencia/pseuds/Sylencia
Summary: Madara hadn't exactly been enthusiastic when Hashirama decided to lend his bedroom to Tobirama in their shared flat for a year. Will that night change his point of view ?





	Drunk men tell no tales

**Author's Note:**

> A "short" OS I had the idea to write after I stumbled on a tweet. Couldn't help writing after I imagined Tobirama and Madara in that situation xD It's soft and not even smutty!
> 
> Title inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean obviously (I'm so bad with titles!)

Madara didn’t like being woken up with no reasons. Of course, probably no one liked that but Madara hated it double when it was the only night of the week he could sleep without any care in the world, as much as he wanted with no alarm in the morning to startle him out of his dreams. It was a Saturday night after all, or was it already Sunday morning ? But the ruckus coming from somewhere in the flat forced him out of sleep and Madara gritted his teeth.  
  
He knew this had been a bad idea to being with. He knew it and he had claimed so from the start. Sure, Madara loved that flat, because it was close with the campus and it usually was quiet enough for him to focus on his college assignments and not be bothered. And sure, things had been perfect ever since that new arrangement had been made but Madara was grumpy he had been woken up in the middle of the night and the ruckus in the living room didn’t seem to stop.  
  
Maybe he could use this as an excuse to throw his new roommate out? Madara wouldn’t even deny he had loved living with Hashirama for all this time, even if Hashirama sometimes was the most annoying person on Earth. He was his best friend still and Madara loved him, in the most platonic way. But Hashirama had decided to go abroad this year. Studying to become a doctor, Hashirama had decided to go and try to put his skills in use in one of these countries that had known nothing but the war for the past decade. He wanted to help people, to treat them and he was doing so freely as he now was part of some humanitarian association. Which was good, truly.  
  
However, before he left, Hashirama had asked his best friend a big favor : to let his little brother Tobirama take his place in the apartment, to let him live in the now spare bedroom and Madara had tried hard to argue against it, saying it was a bad idea. Mostly because he and Tobirama had hated each other’s guts ever since Hashirama introduced them.  
  
Why ? Madara couldn’t exactly remember. But his hatred for the man now ran deeply into his veins, and seeing him made him sneer and send the nastiest comments his way just because he could. And Tobirama usually happily answered. This had been milder ever since they started living together, they avoided each other’s presence most of the time and only talked when necessary. Sometimes, Tobirama would ask him if he needed anything before going to the groceries, or Madara would tell him about the mail he received. All in all, it worked pretty fine.  
  
Tonight though? Masses could have killed the man.  
  
The ruckus wasn’t stopping. It was becoming worse even and Madara’s patience was running low. He knew Tobirama had been out all evening, doing whatever he might do. What he couldn’t understand was the fact Tobirama was being so loud in the middle of the night and Madara wished he could have ignored him, he wished he could have placed his spare pillow over his head and go back to sleep but it was too late. His anger was too violent already and instead, he pushed himself from the bed, put on a shirt as he usually only wore some underwear when he was sleeping and he left his bedroom, barging into the living room as loudly as he could to show how pissed he was.  
  
Tobirama didn’t react. But Tobirama was frantically searching something in the closet they used to store all their school stuff and he probably hadn’t even heard him over the noise he himself was making.  
  
It was only when Tobirama turned around, a couple of oversized paper sheets in hand and the expression of pure happiness on the face that Madara realized something important.  
  
Tobirama was drunk. Very much so.  
  
That was a surprising sight. Tobirama always was the perfect student, doing his assignments the same day they had been given to him, working his ass off and taking no break until he was over with all his work. Hell, Madara had even been worried the guy would work himself to death sometimes, not leaving his bedroom for entire weekends because he had to work on this or that thing. Madara didn’t care what these things were but he couldn’t deny it had been a relief to him, to see how discreet the man could be. It was bad enough he had to share his space with Tobirama, it would have been terrible if he was forced to actually interact with him more than they already did.  
  
But, and Madara hated to admit it, some kind of weird fascination was taking over his anger : it was the first time he was seeing Tobirama drunk. Or in any state that wasn’t his usual. He didn’t even know Tobirama would be drinking tonight. Why did he drink in the first place ? With whom ? For all Madara knew, Tobirama had no friends. He never invited anyone in here and he never indulged in going out to begin with. Always so focused on school work. He never, ever showed any hint of stress either, though.  
  
Really, that man was a mystery, for Madara.  
  
That being said, it didn’t mean Madara would ever want to know him better. He had no interest in befriending him to begin with and this arrangement would stop the exact moment Hashirama would be back to town. Madara wasn’t sure he’d be able to handle Tobirama for a year already, so for another ? That’d be .. a terrible idea.  
  
“Hi,” Tobirama whispered, his voice softer than anything Madara ever heard from him and the dorky smile on his lips was nothing comparable with his usual stuck up expression.  
  
Madara didn’t answer, not sure what to do for the moment. He watched, as Tobirama painfully lowered himself to the ground, sitting there, surrounding himself with the many sheets he found like a little kid who wanted to draw. For a moment, Madara considered retrieving his phone to film the whole thing and using it to blackmail Tobirama but he didn’t. He was too curious to miss any second of this himself and he’d have to count on his memory only instead. He already was too happy to be able to witness such a thing.  
  
A drunk Tobirama acting like a little child.  
  
The Senju didn’t move for a long time. An intense look of focus on the face except from that weird smile of his. Which made him look creepy in a way and Madara rubbed at his face tiredly. That’d better be worth it, he told himself, as he lowered himself to the ground and yawned sleepily. Or he’d give Tobirama hell for waking him up like that.  
  
Then, Tobirama started to scribble. Equations, Madara realized after a time and he was aware Tobirama was in that renowned engineering school but that was all. He didn’t know what his roommate’s major was, not what the hell he was studying. All his life, ever since he had met with Hashirama at least, he had been told Tobirama was some kind of a genius, that he had a very high I.Q and all that sort of crap but Madara never bought it. He had been proved otherwise when Tobirama started living with him, when he’d spend so much time doing his assignments and working as if he had troubles following his lessons. He had heard Tobirama groan in frustration all the way from the other side of the flat and Madara knew all he had been told was crap. Tobirama wasn’t some sort of a genius, he was struggling too much to be one.  
  
That was until he stopped understanding the equations Tobirama was so quick to write down. Madara was aware his level in maths and physics was good, he often received perfect marks for his assignments and the only reason why he hadn’t been able to get into the same school as Tobirama was because he hadn’t received the scholarship he worked so hard to get. He had been salty about it for a long time, spitting his hate over the council whom assigned them to whoever listened but he eventually settled for his current college and it was good enough. Already, he was receiving some job offers from the enterprises that had a partnership with his school and his future was very much assured.  
  
What Tobirama was writing down though ? Madara recognized some equations because he was curious and liked to learn about some things that weren’t taught to him at school. He watched as Tobirama started to calculate some values that made no sense whatsoever to Madara. And Madara would have been good with it, since he was pretty sure Tobirama was too drunk for what he was doing to make any sense. That was, until Tobirama wrote down the results of said very complex equations without the help of a calculator. His brain did all the work and Madara watched in fascination as Tobirama did so with a tiny smile on the lips.  
  
Was he even drunk to begin with ? But Tobirama looked up, obviously dizzy even as he was sitting and his smile widened.  
  
“Hi,” he said again, biting his lower lip. “Your hair is weird.”  
  
Instinctively, Madara reached for his hair but he already knew what Tobirama probably meant. Madara liked to braid it, when he went to sleep, so it wouldn’t become a mess of knots by the morning and he usually unbraided it before he left his bedroom. Tobirama probably never saw his hair like that before and Madara frowned, when Tobirama leaned over his sheets to reach for his hair and look at it so intensely, as if it was a new equation for him to resolved. Ok, Madara told himself, he had no doubt anymore. Tobirama was very drunk.  
  
“Soft,” Tobirama commented before he went back to his equations and Madara continued to watch him, a deep, weird fascination taking over his previous anger. He wanted to ask, what Tobirama was doing, what meaning all of these had. Madara had to admit, he probably wasn’t smart enough to understand it all, and it was a pain to him to realize it but .. but he was getting curious now. Did it even have a meaning ? Did it even lead anywhere ? But he feared disturbing Tobirama would snap him out of his trance and Madara only sat there in silence, continuing to observe the man doing his .. whatever he was doing.  
  
There was something Madara couldn’t get, though. Tobirama had written several “T + M = L” in the corners of his sheets. The only constants with these names Madara knew about were Time and Mass. But L ? Madara had to admit it was something he didn’t know and he glanced up at Tobirama several times before he cleared his throat.  
  
“Tobirama ?” He called out gently, shifting closer. “What’s that ? What does L mean?”  
  
Tobirama continued writing down the equation he had been about, before he stared at the place Madara was tapping, right beside the unknown equation and he did something Madara would have never been able to braced himself for.  
  
He giggled and he blushed.  
  
It made Madara strangely awkward, for a moment. Tobirama ? Giggling ? Where the hell did that come from ? How could that sound be so cute coming from him ? When did Tobirama even learn to giggle like that ? He sounded like a teenage girl and Madara cursed, for not having gone retrieved his phone. He should have filmed that. It would have been the perfect blackmail material. Oh, what a missed opportunity.  
  
But Tobirama wasn’t answering and Madara was about to ask again when Tobirama leaned forward and started to carefully, slowly, draw something around that equation. A heart, Madara realized after a moment and he frowned. A heart ? But it made no sense, why would Tobirama draw a heart around one of his equations ?  
  
Then, it hit him. It wasn’t an equation. Or, at least, it wasn’t part of that other thing Tobirama had been writing about. The T meant Tobirama, the L probably meant Love. What about the M then ? Did Tobirama have a lover or some sort ? Did he even have the time to fancy anyone when he always look so busy with school work ? Was he even interested with this kind of things ?  
  
Before he could ask though, Tobirama was back to his equations, a now content smile on the lips and he’d sometimes stop to draw a heart around the other “equations" on his sheets, always giggling like a little girl as he did so and with a fond air on the face. It was a strange sight and Madara had a hard time understanding what it truly meant, and whom that other person might be and he waited what seemed to be hours, for the opportunity to ask Tobirama but he missed his shot.  
  
Because as soon as Tobirama stopped writing down his equations, sighing with contentment, he grabbed the last blank sheet, he settled on his belly and started drawing. And it seemed quite rubbish at first, especially upside down but Madara slowly circled the mess of papers Tobirama had made, careful not to step on the sheets, to sit next to the drunk Senju and his eyes widened.  
  
A plane. Tobirama was drawing a freaking plane, adding annotations here and there, references to his previous equations, to all the calculations he made for the past hour and Madara couldn’t believe it. Tobirama was drunk to the point he was giggling like a little girl and he was still able to design a fucking plane as if it was natural to him. Who did that ? Who the hell in all history had done anything like this before !?  
  
Madara realized he had been staring at Tobirama in disbelief for the past minutes when Tobirama hummed and started drawing little hearts again, in the plane’s wings now. Which was giving it a weird allure, surely but Madara couldn’t help giggling, all his bad mood gone now. This whole situation was too ridiculous for him to be angry anymore and he had to admit he was impressed with Tobirama’s skills. Of course, he would never admit so, especially not to Tobirama but maybe, just maybe, he’d start respecting Tobirama’s work a little more now. Just a little. No need for that bastard to become smug about it and Madara sighed, rubbing at his forehead. It was obvious Tobirama was done designing his plane now, doodling hearts all over the plane and Madara placed soft fingers on his shoulder.  
  
“Come on, Tobirama,” he breathed out, in a tone gentle enough. “Let’s get you to bed.”  
  
“Noooo,” Tobirama slurred, and he yawned but he swiftly shook his head. “Not done yet !”  
  
“Yes you are,” Madara frowned. He didn’t like dealing with drunk people and surely, he’d get annoyed quickly if Tobirama resisted to much.  
  
“J-just .. the name,” Tobirama nodded his head in what was probably supposed to be a serious air but his dorky smile was throwing the whole effect off and Madara sighed, he rubbed his forehead. He could already feel the headache coming, if Tobirama struggled and why was he even that gentle with him ?  
  
Still, he motioned for Tobirama to do what he wanted to and Tobirama turned to his drawing again, giggling as he did so and Madara closed his eyes. He was exhausted now. He wanted to go to sleep. He wished he could just knock Tobirama out and leave him there and go back to bed.  
  
“Aaaall done now!” Tobirama chanted after a couple of seconds and Madara opened his eyes again, he frowned in hope it would help him focus but he froze when he read what Tobirama had added to the drawing he was holding out to him.  
  
The title at first, and Madara couldn’t help his snort. “The plane of Love” it read, in big letters with little hearts drawn all around it and Madara truly wished he could snatch it out of Tobirama’s hands and keep it, as it was the perfect way to blackmail the Senju.  
  
Then, he noticed Tobirama had added a name on the plane’s body. His name. “Madara” in carefully written letters and Madara felt his heart stop, when he realized the obviousness of the situation. For the little “equation" Tobirama had drawn hearts around earlier made perfect sense now, even if Madara couldn’t really believe it. The M wasn’t just any other name. It was meant for Madara. For him. Tobirama loved him.  
  
The information was both long and quick to make its way to Madara’s brain and the Uchiha found himself unable to breath for a moment. Because it couldn’t be true, could it ? Tobirama couldn’t .. love him. Or even have a crush on him ? But there was one universal truth in this world. Something that no one could ever deny : drunk people never lied. And Tobirama was still very much drunk. It was obvious, from the blush on his pale cheeks and how heavy his lids were on his eyes and that stupid smile on his lips. Yes he was drunk and he had drawn little hearts all around his name on that freaking plane and Madara didn’t know what he was supposed to do with it all.  
  
“I reaaaally like you,” Tobirama slurred, trying to shift closer but too wobbly to do so. “You’re so, so, so cute !”  
  
Madara flushed, at Tobirama’s words because surely, this couldn’t be right. Then again, Tobirama looked so much under the influence still and it made Madara wonder how much did his roommate drink, before he came back here. And how in hell was he able to come back to begin with ? Madara remembered when he was younger and he couldn’t even remember his brother’s name. Or maybe some of Tobirama’s friends brought him back home safely ? Madara didn’t know and he wasn’t sure it was the main subjects here.  
  
Tobirama just said he liked you and found him pretty and Madara had no idea how to react to it. All they ever did, before they started with this living arrangement, was to bicker all the time and be crass with each other. Fuck, Madara couldn’t even remember one time he was actually nice to Tobirama before. Sure, their relationship had improved since they started living together, mostly because they spent half the time ignoring each other. Where did these feelings even come from ? It didn’t make any sense and Madara wished he would have never heard that. Or saw that drawing at all.  
  
“Let’s go to bed,” Madara whispered, looking away and getting up as he did so. Tobirama hummed and Madara made sure not to hear it as some erotic moan, as if Tobirama had understood something else in his words. But he helped the other back on his feet, Madara bit his lip when Tobirama leaned heavily against him.  
  
The trip to Tobirama’s bedroom was a short one, only a couple of steps away from Tobirama’s drawing spot but so long with the current situation and Madara gritted his teeth, when he kicked Tobirama’s door open, he turned on the lights.  
  
As the cleaning freak Tobirama was, the whole place was in perfect order. Of course it was. Madara rolled his eyes because that couldn’t be healthy but now wasn’t the time to argue about it. And he was going to help Tobirama sit down on his bed, in order to get him to take his shoes off but Tobirama turned around and pulled him into a tight embrace.  
  
Surprised, Madara froze on the spot. This was .. maybe too much to handle for tonight, in addition with what he learned just before. Yes it was and Madara was about to pull away but Tobirama nuzzled his hair, he placed a hand on the back of his neck and he sighed in contentment.  
  
This .. this was good, Madara realized after a moment. It felt good, to have someone hug him so entirely and Madara knew he shouldn’t think like that when it came to Tobirama but .. there was a little voice, in his head. Muffled under layers of “I hate that guy” but it was whispering to him how good Tobirama smelt right now, how his perfume only was making him close the eyes and lean his head against his shoulder. How warm his hands were, how his skin tickled with the sensation. It muttered about the shivers running up and down his back when Tobirama breathed into his hair. It had been so long, since the last time he was pulled into such embrace. And he knew he shouldn't abuse of Tobirama’s state, he shouldn’t let this happen knowing the other wasn’t in his right state of mind but .. but it was only a hug. One good hug, that Tobirama had initiated himself and when Madara tried to pull away, Tobirama’s arms tighten around him and he whispered a whiny, pitiful “no”.  
  
So, Madara indulged into letting the younger man hug him a longer time, until he finally pulled away and Madara breathed out in relief. And disappointment also. Not that he’d ever admit it.  
  
“Alright, you sit down,” Madara whispered, ignoring his warm his cheeks were and he pushed Tobirama down on his bed. “Let’s take your shoes off.”  
  
Tobirama was now very much pliant and he yawned, while Madara was untying his shoes and pulling at them, throwing them somewhere in the bedroom. He then looked up at Tobirama’s outfit but to hell with it. He wasn’t going to undress Tobirama, that was a big no-no. Instead, he led Tobirama to lie down on his bed, pulling the covers over his body and he sighed, when Tobirama whined again.  
  
“You need to sleep now,” Madara stated, and he rolled his eyes when Tobirama started to mumble in a sleepy way, as if he wasn’t exactly okay with going to bed.  
  
It took him around ten seconds to fall asleep and Madara rolled his eyes again. This guy truly was a handful but at least, he was sleeping now. Which was good and in one last selfless gesture, Madara retrieved some aspirin and a glass of water, he left them on Tobirama’s bedside table before he turned the lights off and left the bedroom without a sound.  
  
Tobirama’s sheets were still all spread out on the ground in the living room and Madara stared at them for a moment, before he sighed, gathered them and placed them on the coffee table. He made sure the “plane of Love" was on top of the stack, in order for Tobirama to see it when he’d wake up sometime during the day, then he went back to bed, exhausted. At least, Tobirama hadn’t been a pain to take to bed and now, the flat was silent enough for Madara to fall asleep again.  
  
His mind wasn’t, though. Madara wouldn’t stop thinking about all what Tobirama said. How he liked him, how he found him cute. It felt so unreal. So much like a bad dream, but Madara knew he had been very much awake. What he had witnessed was the raw truth. Tobirama liked him. He did. Drunk people didn’t lie. How did it happen, Madara didn’t know. How could Tobirama have developed such a crush on him when all they were was .. what, to begin with ? Rivals ? Enemies ? It was stupid. Madara couldn’t even remember why they started acting like that, back then, why they started arguing each time they could.  
  
But it was too late to think about this and Madara chased it all away, peacefully going back to sleep. There was no ruckus anymore, all was calm and Madara needed his beauty sleep after all.

* * *

It was already late, when Madara woke up that Sunday. Around noon and Madara had wanted to sleep on but not that much. Oh well, he sighed, stretching and yawning. It wouldn’t have been any other way without the whole drunk Tobirama incident. Madara didn’t even know how long he spent watching the other work on his fucking plane.  
  
The flat still was silent though and Madara took all his time to get dress, he stretched again, before he left his bedroom and prepared himself a cup of coffee. He could hear Tobirama groaning from his bedroom and Madara couldn’t help snickering, thinking of the headache he probably was sporting now. Hopefully, Tobirama would find the aspirin he left for him and take it. It would only do him good, of course and Madara waited in silence until Tobirama finally left his bedroom, still dressed with last night’s clothes and completely disheveled. A sight to behold, surely and Madara looked at him smugly over the edge of his cup of coffee.  
  
He was trying hard not to remind himself of Tobirama’s words and that hug. He was failing very hard.  
  
“Morning,” Tobirama groaned, yawning and heading to the open kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee. He then crashed on the couch in front of Madara’s, started drinking slowly, rubbing at his hair and Madara was trying hard not to laugh. Such a sight. Tobirama looked like a mess and he was cute.  
  
And this thought was disturbing. Off with it, Madara thought, trying not to shake his head at himself.  
  
“What’s that ?” Tobirama whispered after a moment and Madara watched with a lot of joy, when Tobirama leaned forward to grab the first sheet, the one with the plane drawing. Madara smiled, when all the colours drained from his face, before he flushed very hard and Madara chuckled.  
  
“I’ve learned so many things, last night,” Madara hummed. He stood, walking around the coffee table, he sat down next to his roommate and nudged his ribs gently with his elbow. “So you think I’m cute ?”  
  
“Oh God no,” Tobirama mumbled under his breath and he closed his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Tell me I didn’t…”  
  
“That you didn’t say you liked me?” Madara continued, chuckling. “That you find me so, so cute ? That you hugged the life out of me when I took you to bed ?”  
  
Tobirama hesitated, all flustered and awkward and he didn’t move for a long time, until he turned his head toward Madara and Madara looked up.  
  
But he hadn’t planned for his heart to start beating that fast, he hadn’t planned Tobirama’s tired gaze would make him feel so .. vulnerable, on the moment. Why was he feeling vulnerable now ? But he could feel Tobirama’s breathing against his face and all Madara wanted now, was to lean up and claim these lips. And it was stupid. Why would he kiss Tobirama ? But they looked so tempting, so very much and Madara wetted his with the tip of his tongue, his throat tighten with anticipation when Tobirama’s eyes shifted to his lips. Several seconds ticked, it was as if they both were tiptoeing on thin ice and Madara couldn’t think anymore. All he wanted now was for Tobirama to kiss him and it was stupid but ..  
  
But the moment was broken, when Tobirama’s phone buzzed with an incoming message, Tobirama broke the contact, he looked away, glanced at his phone and he sighed, his cheeks still so very much crimson.  
  
“I’m going back to bed,” The younger man mumbled and Madara looked away, confused with himself, he listened as Tobirama went back to the kitchen to pour himself another cup of fresh coffee and he startled when Tobirama slammed his door.  
  
And Madara wasn’t sure what just happened but .. he had wanted to kiss Tobirama so much. He didn’t know where that could come from and he was kind of scared. All he ever did with Tobirama was to bicker and argue and the two of them never, ever got along, ever since they met. He wasn’t even attracted with Tobirama.  
  
Well … He wasn’t .. Right ?


End file.
